Electronic License Plates.
So it would be an LED sign similar to those on the sides of the freeway that tell traffic conditions or flash Amber Alerts. When the car is in motion it is the plate of your car, the numbers and letters. When you stop for 4 seconds or more the license plate becomes an ad. This would generate cash for the cash strapped California.
So as you are sitting there you are advertising for Best Buy or Denny's. Whomever had paid them to use your car as a mobile billboard. If you love the Lakers, you can pay to have your own message printed on your own car!
Um, Fuck you.
Firstly, if I have my car used as a billboard by someone who has a wrap around sign on the paint, I get paid. It's my car. I should get paid. It's my property. I should get some remuneration for my stuff being used. Is the state of California going to stop charging fees for license plates? They have this new revenue stream, they don't need us then. They will all be free, right?
2. Distracted drivers with cell phones, ipads, & fax machines are already a huge problem. The feeble minded drivers will now have flashing signs to divert their attention when stuck on the freeway. When the freeway is shut down for a particularly horrendous accident, the entire back up will have something to read... I don't want that. I want these people to pay attention to their job. Driving. During an accident, how many other accidents happen? Rubbernecking of an accident will also be rubbernecking to see when there is a sale at Macy's.
Thirdly, the California legislature needs to stop grasping at straws. Not every money making idea that is floated should be taken seriously. How much would it cost to make all the license plates become signs? How do you convert the millions of cars to this new system? It's ridiculous. If California decides to do some Manifest Destiny and make your house into an electronic billboard, doesn't that violate your rights?
4. Okay, I don't want to sound paranoid, but for this system to work, do you have the same ad on your car everywhere you go, or does it change ads as you travel from one city to the next? Do you have an ad for Safeway in San Francisco and then one for Vons in LA and San Diego? Something would have to tell this system that you are no longer in LA and change it for SF. So this tracking of ads would also track your car's movements. In the world of too much personal information being transmitted, isn't this a tracking system? Couldn't this black box be used in some way?
I hope this mobile sign doesn't happen. I get nothing out of it for the state to use my vehicle. But I will be the first in line to ask for a government grant to study the rise in accidents on the roads attributed to this new technology.
Right after I have my car registered in Arizona.
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